Pariah Preview

Water effects look stunning, if not totally realistic.

The single player game centres on Jack Mason, a doctor who seems to have an unhealthy drug addiction. He is given the job of transporting a prisoner, Karina J. Karina is wanted by the powers that be due to her involvement in secret experiments. We weren't told what these were, but expect the story to reveal all the juicy details. The story is something that the developers were keen to talk about. A Team of professional writers are working on it, while another team work on adapting that story for the game. At the moment they are on their fifth draft and are looking to go beyond that of a traditional videogame story telling.

The first level we saw took place on a fairly baron looking desert like landscape. The level was a predominantly on rails affair, with Karina driving the Bogey, a two seated buggy, while Dr Mason fended off prisoners using the Bogeys machine gun. A later level saw the Dr on board a drop ship, attempting to board a close flying ship. To do this he had to take out the shield generators, before boarding the ship and taking out the guards trying to stop him from taking control. These two levels show the mixture of gameplay styles digital extremes are striving for. The third level we saw was a more typical affair, seeing the Dr entering a tower and taking out enemies from afar, using a pretty tricked out sniper rifle. Switching the rifles mode revealed a heat vision mode, making distant enemies easy pickings. The WEC's from multiplayer are also in the single player game, being dropped by enemies, allowing you to upgrade your weapons and abilities. We also got to see the Dr's drug habit in action. Rather usefully, he can heal himself by pumping drugs into himself, but there is a fairly major drawback. Take too many at once and your vision will blur, making aiming a rather tricky task.

The environments stretch far into the distance and are filled with beautiful scenery and effects.

Visually, the game looks pretty stunning, especially on the Xbox. The environments stretch far into the distance and are filled with beautiful scenery and effects. The water is worth a special mention, looking simply awesome. Vehicles are modelled excellently, both technically and artistically. The PC version obviously looks better, with a smoother frame-rate and crisper look. It should also be noted that due to engine optimisations, the game will require a lower minimum spec than the last game to use the engine, Unreal Tournament 2004. While the Playstation 2 version wasn't on display, it is said to be looking very good and should not disappoint.

Overall, we were very impressed with what we saw. There is certainly a very interesting story to be discovered and technically the game is looking excellent. With both a varied single player experience and a potentially unheard of console multiplayer sharing community, Pariah is a game that everyone should be keeping an eye on. We will have more on the game leading up to its release in March 2005.